United Cereal Essay

The ready-to-eat (RTE) sector has increased sales and therefore have given the Breakfast cereals market an advantage to have a higher market share of 4.2% in 2013. The emphasis is more to the value and the convenience of cereals rather than the quality. However people are starting to be more heath conscious and are going to the higher nutritional brands which tend to be the well-known ones such as Kellogg 's, Weetabix and Nestle.

The cereal industry is very adamant on using a differentiation strategy to make one’s brand stand out in the minds of certain people. The companies break down the public into different target markets; and then make products that will be attractive to their target markets. Companies make different brands for young kids, teenagers, adults, and people who are health conscience. Currently, there are 387 different brands of cereal sold in the United States and each family is estimated to purchase 17 different brands per year. (O’Connor, Amy) Companies continue to brainstorm for new product ideas to attract the various market segmentations.

The company was recently presented an opportunity by its largest retail customer to significantly increase its share in their private label manufacturing. The prospect of growth was risky, since it

Their extensive research in market trends enables them to keep a step ahead of its competitors by constantly expanding to meet consumer needs.

In the RTE cereal industry, there were three large manufacturers, General Mills, Kellogg and Philip Morris that had a strong presence in the market. They were extremely profitable with pricing power and dominated the whole market with great market share; all this made it unattractive

Therefore, it really needed a strong product that responded the market’s needs and wants so that the product could speak itself in order to survive the keen competition.

Situation analysis: Ivan Guillen was asked to develop a marketing strategy in Canada to improve the business portion of the Pillsbury refrigerated baked goods category of General Mills (pg 1).

Kellogg’s is highly a profile company which is hugely known not only in the UK but in the world at large. It is one of the largest breakfast companies in the word, not only that but it is also financially it is a stably and well organised company. Kellogg’s profits have been stable if not increasing for the better from what it was 5 years ago.

The Pillsbury Cookie Challenge is a case study written by Natalie Mauro under the supervision of Professor Allison Johnson. The case study creates an open discussion about what the marketing manager of the refrigerated baked goods category for Canada General Mills should do to revive his products. Ivan Guillen, the marketing manager, was faced with tough challenges. He was initially “…faced with the challenge of developing a strategy that would lead to improved business performance on his category” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). To clarify, Guillen’s category is refrigerated baked goods (RBG), which means, this category is his marketing responsibility. The issue here is that “RBG was GMCC’s fourth largest category, and its performance over the past two years had been less than stellar” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). It is important to note that GMCC stands for General Mills Canada Corporation. Pillsbury has enjoyed majority market share in the RBG category in Canada, however, recently, the market was experiencing only moderate growth. Guillen was disappointed that their goal of 5%-7% market growth was not being achieved mainly in the refrigerated cookie dough segment. To be exact, their volume growth for two years was flat and they were having difficulty reaching new households. There was a shift among consumer’s purchases, which Guillen was challenged to figure out why.

As marketing manager of the RBG business, Ivan Guillen must propose a solution to repair Pillsbury refrigerated baked goods (RGB)’s business performance. Since the refrigerated-cookie product line consisted of 62% of RBG’s unit sales and over 75% of the company’s profits, Guillen found it appropriate to alter this segment in the market. Proposing this idea to GMCC would require Guillen to consider all the challenges he faces. Guillen will have to discover a strategy to increase household penetration since it has fallen to 24% in the past few years. The lack in market penetration has

This gain value and addresses a key decisive achievement factor in the industry (Grant,2010). As position is important to offer convenience and a deep assortment, An extra unique intangible resource would be their brand representation and customer loyalty, this is vital since it can attract or attract consumers and it could be necessary to build the brand image .

(4) Absent any resource constraints, which of the four departmental directions do you think is the most viable? Which is the second best strategy? Which is the least viable? In my humble opinion the most viable option would be to follow Eric Stanger’s advice to go ‘back to basics’. In order to underwrite the new line of LR trademark and experiment with more new products, they had in effect been milking the OM lines. Their price increase on several of our more critical items had outpaced those of their key competitors, in order to always deliver more bottom line profits. They had shaved their A&P budgets for the same purpose and this was resulting in slippage in value and trust among our consumer franchise thus the declining sales and share. They thus needed to cut on

United Cereal is a diversified company established in 1910 by Jed Thomas. The company produces snack foods, dairy products, beverages, frozen foods, baked goods, and cereals. The cereal industry generates one third of United Cereals revenue. United Cereal focuses on “commitment, diligence, and loyalty” which attracted many people to work for the company. Jed expected his Managers to adhere to a strong set of values and wanted committed Managers that would uphold his philosophy of the “The UC Way” to its customers. In addition, the company focused on listening to its customers and spotting current trends to make the market part of their core value. United Cereal was well known as an

2. Evaluate the achievability of the company objectives for Montreaux USA. Identify the most salient (or important) aspects of the chocolate confectionary industry, globally and domestically, that are critical for understanding a new product introduction of this type. Provide support for your conclusions.

Leading the industry by providing personal, honest and effective service that results in an advantageous business relationship with our customers, partners and suppliers;