Snapple Case Study

...

To turn Snapple around a mix of Marketing, PR and Operational measures needs to be adopted.

Operational Measures –

- Take off Larger Pack sizes and stick to one time serving size of 16 OZ – High % of Snapple sales is derived from single bottles (Exhibit - USAGE) and it makes more sense to focus resources on the same. It will further solve the problems faced by distributors and other trade partners in the “Cold Channel” as it will again facilitate ease in display at selling points and loading trucks.

- Use market intelligence and distributor feedback to establish the most successful flavors – Snapple derives 55% of its sales from the Top 10 flavors however it offers 50 flavors in the market (Exhibit 4). Rather than continuing with all the flavors or randomly discontinuing flavors, Marketing and Operations team should work on a quick feedback mechanism with the distributors and discontinue flavors which consistently perform poor. This will allow Triarc to give better visibility and shelf space to best flavors in both Cold and Hot Channels and improve profit per SKU.

Marketing and PR Measures –

- Rebuild relations with distributors – Distributors played a very important role in Snapple’s initially success and can directly impact the decision of retailer to purchase a brand. Snapple needs to clearly convey that it has a team now which cares and listens to what distributors say and is not trying to take away their hard-earned Supermarket blue chip accounts. A good relation with distributors will help Snapple to better cater its consumers with better choices of flavors and will help improve its market intelligence.

- Reestablish Snapple’s lost brand Image – The reason for Snapple’s strong connection with its consumers was that it came across as a real and human brand. A brand that was authentic, fun and personal. However, it lost its course over the last few years and consumers started to disconnect. Following steps could be taken –

- Do not overstate/misrepresent Snapple’s health benefits – Consumers place Snapple between Cola and Juices. Therefor Snapple needs to present itself as just “Healthy Enough”. Snapple consumers are sensitive to authenticity issues.

- Use community marketing strategies to build upon its personal and local character and position Snapple as a social and ritualistic drink in all its communication – It is important for Snapple to come across as a brand which understands, connects and cares for the society and the people. Someone that is Fun and Friendly yet personal, authentic and caring

- Bring Wendy back – Wendy is a true symbol of Snapple’s characteristics. Connects well with the most prominent consumer base of Snapple.

Risks-

The biggest risk could be that the strategy to bring back the lost brand image does not work. Therefor it is important for Triarc to test each step at a smaller scale first, evaluate response and then make the decision about execution at a larger scale.