Pillsbury Cookie Challenge

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household penetration in the U.S. is more than double that in Canada. The RBG marketing team cannot rely on those already using refrigerated dough to increase sales, like their U.S. counterparts can. Rather, they must focus on resonating with scratch bakers. They should not spend time and resources promoting the convenience of refrigerated cookies. The usage and attitude study showed that both users and lapsed users already view RBG products as easy, quick and convenient. The high percentage of from-scratch bakers in Canada suggests that consumers have more time to devote to baking, meaning they are less concerned with the convenience of RBG products, and that they value the baking experience. The marketing strategy should play up the baking experience. This is supported by the findings from the in-home sessions and workshop. Advertising should evoke an emotional response or warmth and well-being, and themes should include putting a smile on the consumer’s family’s faces and sharing cookies with those the consumer loves. Positioning RBG products in this way will help mitigate lapsed consumers’ concern that buying refrigerated dough somehow detracts from the labor of love that is baking. If Ivan and his team can increase customer value perception in the scratch segment, they can increase market share.

The new marketing strategy should also focus on appealing to kids. The usage and attitude study found that kids played a bigger role in driving purchases in the Canadian market, and that the use of refrigerated dough was increasing especially in households with kids. Ads geared towards children should feature the Pillsbury Doughboy, considered one of the top 10 advertising icons of the century. The Pillsbury Doughboy’s cartoon-like character especially resonates with children. These ads should play in the morning when children are most likely to watch TV. Children will ask Mom to make cookies with them and Mom will add cookie dough to her grocery list. The marketing team should also focus on making the packaging more appealing to children. Moms often take their kids grocery shopping, so by making the packaging more colorful or using popular children’s characters on packing, the cookie dough will “pop” off the shelf in the eyes of kids. Consumer insights showed that cookie dough was considered an impulse purchase. If cookie dough packaging catches the eyes of kids at the grocery store, mothers will likely agree to purchase the product.

By focusing on mothers that bake from scratch and on kids, and taking the actions outlined above to reach these market segments, Ivan will present a marketing strategy supported by sound data when he meets with the leadership team.