Marketing plan-revision of marketing mix (company is tonyschocolonely)

Product • Discuss the company’s product – is it an existing product or innovation? If it is an innovation talk, about the newness of your innovation (e.g., continuous vs. discontinuous). • Identify the company’s product’s stage in the product life cycle. – What type of shape does this particular product have (e.g., high-learning, low-learning, etc.)? • Discuss how the stage and shape of this particular PLC may impact other components of the marketing mix (i.e., price, promotion, and placement). • Discuss how you propose to modify the company’s product or service to meet and satisfy the needs and/or wants of the (new) target market. • Discuss whether the company’s product/service is high in search, experience, and/or credence properties and why this matters for redeveloping the value proposition. • How would you (not) use the current brand for redeveloping or designing the company’s product? Price • Discuss the current pricing strategy for the company’s product(s). • Outline your recommendations for keeping or modifying the pricing strategy for repositioning your product for your selected target market. Explain your reasoning for this approach. • Discuss how your proposed pricing strategy for the new target market impacts or supports the company’s overall organizational and branding efforts. Place (Distribution) • Discuss the distribution intensity your client company currently uses and whether you would modify this strategy for the selected target market. • Discuss the role(s) your client company generally plays in a marketing channel (e.g., wholesaler or retailer; store vs. non-store). Discuss why and how you would (not) adjust the company’s current marketing channel to reach the selected target market. • Discuss the company’s online distribution and whether changes need to be made for the selected target market. • Discuss how this distribution approach aligns with the rest of your efforts. Page 4 of 4 Promotion • Based on the current PLC, and (re)positioning statement(s), determine message content for the target market. Create a bulleted list of appropriate goals such as ‘to inform’ or ‘to persuade’. Briefly describe how this proposed message content connects to the wants/needs of the target market. • Recommend a type of appeal (e.g., fear, humor) and develop a slogan. • Determine the physical elements of continuity: same logo, use of same colors, use of fonts, etc. to achieve a more identifiable campaign to support an integrated marketing communication (IMC). • Recommend a media selection for advertising, based on actual research of your targeted market. Briefly describe how these choices would help the company achieve the identified marketing objectives. Create a table that shows approximate costs for your selections with sources cited. • Develop an IMC campaign that helps to meet your objectives and support your current brand. o Develop two visual samples of advertising (using different forms of media such as print, video, radio). Make sure to include the message content you describe above and whatever elements that provide physical continuity as required for IMC. With each, include a bulleted list describing how and why it works. o Develop one sales promotion that is appropriate for your product and include relevant pieces in an appendix (end of your report). With it, include a bulleted list describing how and why it works. o Develop one combined social media and publicity activity, which includes the use of at least one online social network as well as a publicity event. Provide details about the campaign along with a bulleted list describing how and why it works

background information

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

-Tony’s Chocolonely deeply cares about their employees because they think they are the most important group in the company. They have awesome core working practices like free running shoes and a minimum of 28 days of vacation. They are, “crazy about chocolate, serious about people” (de Morre, 2019). 

-Their packaging and the way they divided their chocolate bars is extremely unique and it has an actual purpose. Their unequally divided chocolate bars represent the unfair division of profits in the industry (tonyschocolonely.com, 2019). Customers are forced to look at this interesting detail before eating their bars and that is how they are introduced to Tony’s mission. 

– TC provides pictures of each employee on their website so that way you know exactly who you are talking to on the phone. This provides for more personal experience (tonyschocolonely.com, 2019). 

– They are constantly coming out with new and unique flavors to satisfy their customer’s needs and stay on-trend. In addition, they provide different sized bars to fit everyone’s needs (tonyschocolonely.com, 2019).

Weaknesses

-The company lacks a bigger presence in the United States. They currently only have 7 employees in all the US and they are all located in Oregon. On the other hand, they have 70 that work in Amsterdam. If they want to grow their presence here in the States they are going to have to expand their team. They need more people working locally if they are planning on having an increase in demand and market (tonyschocolonely.com, 2019).

-They ship only within the continental US; they do not ship to Alaska or Hawaii (tonyschocolonely.com, 2019). This causes a weakness because other companies are winning over the market in these areas since TC isn’t providing to them. 

-TC is more expensive than regular chocolate. A 6.35 oz bar will cost $5.49 and a 7 oz Hershey’s bar cost 2.13 (Walmart.com, 2019). 

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Opportunities

-Consumers are becoming more aware of what they buy and put in their bodies. They want companies that not only create pretty and tasty things but also stand for something positive. TC is not only delicious but their company stands for a good cause as well (tonyschocolonely.com, 2019). These things matter to a modern-day consumer. 

Threats

– Other brands are already currently dominating the market here in the US. For example, Hershey, Nestle, Ghirardelli. In 2017 the top three chocolate brands in the US were, Hershey, Mars, Lindt/Ghiradelli/R. Stover, and Nestle (mordorintelligence.com, 2019). It can be very hard to disrupt brand loyalty so it will be tricky to find customers that are willing to switch over from their trusted chocolate brands. 

– Organic brands are also seen as a competitor for TC. According to LiveStrong.com, the top four best organic chocolate bars in 2018 were Pascha Chocolate, Chocolove, Alter Eco, and Taza Chocolate. The list goes on until number ten and each company offers some type of impact on the planet (Huber, 2018). This could pose a big threat to TC because it shows them that they are not the only chocolate company that is having a positive impact. 

Choose from there critical issues for the company

• Issue: Size of the US TC team right now. There are only seven employees in all the US and that could cause major problems for them once they start to expand. 
  • Objective: Recruit a medium-sized team so that they can keep up with different arising tasks 
• Issue: No positive word of mouth 
  • Objective: Find a source of advertising that doesn’t cost them money but will still effectively spread the word 
• Issue: The massive competitive market (Nestle, Hershey’s, HU Kitchen, and other “organic” brands)
  • Objective: Spreading their mission statement. Especially the idea that there are slavery and child slavery within the chocolate industry. Get shelf space next to check outlines instead of just having it in the back of the grocery store.  
  • Objective: Put the Small (1.8 oz) bars in gas stations, and in airport convenience stores next to check outlines. Put bigger bars next to the regular baking section/chocolate 
    • “it’s easier to subtly suggest making small, impulse purchases once a shopper stands at a checkout counter ready to make a purchase. And the numbers back that up: 40% of people admit to spending more money than they planned when shopping in stores.” (Shopify)
    • “Nearly 8 in 10 (79 percent) made most of their impulse purchases in a store.” (Credit Cards)

Identify relevant segments in the market and specify one on which TC should focus on (targeting)

• B2B – companies that don’t directly manufacture chocolate but still use it as an ingredient in their stuff. (TC could do a collab with other desert brands)
• B2C – 25-40, upper-middle-class, socially conscious 

Get Numbers- US census

Propose the three SMART goals, i.e. objectives you believe (as an external consulting team) that the company should try to achieve in a future time period (e.g., in 2020). 

• In 2020, we will increase the market share to 10% in the US. In addition, we want to see a 16% revenue growth in US dollars. 
• We will grow brand recognition in the US by selling the product in more stores and buying better shelf space (social media following increase by 30% in 2020)
• We will keep working hard on spreading our mission statement more than the idea that we sell chocolate. In 2020, we will purchase at least 6,000 metric ton (MT) traceable beans from our five partner cooperatives with Tony’s premium. We want at least 4,200 farmers to benefit directly from our Tony’s premium.
• In order to improve the product recognition and sales, we will be cooperating with at least 10% of convenience stores and gas stations (about 16960 stores) to sell small bars next to their cash register in 2020.

Positioning (or Repositioning) Map & Statement for the Selected Target Market 

References

https://tonyschocolonely.com/us/en/chocoshop/products/big-bars

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bse.2230

https://www.shopify.com/retail/how-to-use-your-checkout-counter-to-make-more-sales

https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/impulse-buy-survey.php

SWOT

S: https://corporate-rebels.com/tonys-chocolonely/, https://tonyschocolonely.com/us/en/frequently-asked-questions, 

T: https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/north-america-chocolate-market, https://www.livestrong.com/article/13709301-the-10-best-organic-chocolate-bars/, 

For our revenue in Euros 3,774,233, which is just under 7% of our total sales. 

Strategic Direction Based on the SWOT analysis and segmentation, recommend a strategic direction, using diversification analysis (the Ansoff matrix). Provide support for your decision (to modify the product and/or market) from the SWOT analysis, critical issues, marketing objectives, and segmentation.

We propose Tony’s Chocolonely sells their chocolate through a Business to Business method, instead of a Business to Consumer method.  Because of their desire for zero-cost advertising,  we believe Tony’s Chocolonely should be selling to larger companies to get their name in the Market.  With this, they would also have to alter their main products, to satisfy the needs of the companies they want to sell to.  If Tony’s looks to expand with larger companies, by putting their chocolate in a larger product, then they will be much more successful, then simply putting their chocolate into a limited amount of places.