Marketing Management

Vision

A vision of Unilever behind the launching of new products is to provide healthy food products to all its customers. Further, it also wants to increase its positive impact on society.

Objectives

• Sale new range of oats to more than 50,000 customers in first 6 months.
• Increase sales of oats by 25% every year.

Target markets

It can be stated that defining a target market is one of the important and most crucial aspects of every marketing plan. Nowadays, people have become more conscious of their health and are looking forward to consuming healthier and more nutritious breakfasts. Oats have emerged as the healthiest food products as compared to other products. Further, oats consumption is the best way to gain strength and energy for the whole day. Unilever is now developing a new range of oats to meet the needs of people in the market. The ideal customers of its new range of oats will be people between the age group of 18-50 years. Unilever has an opportunity to satisfy this identified need of people in the market. Therefore, in more specific terms, the brand will target people who are health-conscious. Other than this, students, gym members, and working professionals will be mainly targeted.

Market segmentation

Market segmentation can be termed as the process in which organizations divide their broad target market into various subsets. Unilever will segment its entire target market on the basis of demographic variables. In addition to this, in streamlining its new products, oats will be introduced in four flavors which are strawberry, chocolate, banana, and normal. All these flavors will help in attracting men and women from the entire market segment. Market segmentation for the brand is provided below:

Students

School and college-going individuals will be targeted by Unilever for its new range of oats. Students are young and it has become very important for them to stay fit and healthy. Therefore, these products will help them to have a more healthy and nutritious breakfast in order to stay fit.

Gym members

Unilever will also target people who are members of a gym or another fitness club. Further, the brand will communicate to these people that after working out, consumption of Unilever's oats is going to be extra beneficial for their health.

Working professionals

It is going to be one of the major target market segments for the new product. The lives of these people have become so engaged in work that sometimes they do not have time to make and have breakfast. This affects their entire health and also has a negative impact on their body. Unilever's oats will be easy to cook which means that they will be prepared in 5 minutes. Its different flavors will attract both men and women who fall in this market segment.

Strategy for target market segment

In order to interact and communicate with the target market, Unilever will be using a variety of online and offline strategies. The brand is going to promote its new oats on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In the present scenario, the internet has emerged as one of the most potential sources of marketing and promoting products. Thus, this organization will use this platform to make people aware of its new product in the market. The brand is very active on social media sites and it will display the features of oats on both Facebook and Twitter. Other than this, advertisements will be also displayed on television, in newspapers, and in health-related magazines. This will support reaching a mass audience within a short span of time. Promotional events will be also carried out by the brand in schools, colleges, and corporate offices. Unilever is also going to distribute free samples of its oats to people who belong to its target market segments.

Needs and requirements of a target market

People in the market are in search of products that can meet their needs to have a more nutritious and healthier breakfast. Many brands provide a variety of products such as cereals, noodles, etc. but they contain added preservatives that are not beneficial for health. This means that the available brands in the market are also not able to meet the needs and requirements of people at their best. It can be also stated that many people underestimate the importance of breakfast. Sometimes, they only have a cup of coffee or a glass of juice in terms of breakfast. New oats launched by Unilever will consist of features such as low sugar along with more carbohydrates and fibers which are very good for health. The product can be consumed with milk in order to provide protein and calcium to the body. Thus, it can be stated that the new oats of Unilever will be able to satisfy the needs and requirements of people in the market in the best possible manner.

Distribution channels

Determining effective channels of distribution is also a very important part of marketing plans. Further, it can be defined as the process in which businesses determine how it is going to provide products to people in the market. Unilever will distribute its new range of oats with the help of all retail stores. Customers will be able to buy oats from all the major stores which can provide other products of Unilever as well. The majority of its products are being disturbed and sold by Unilever's own sales force (Our strategy, 2016). Along with this, independent agents, brokers, grocery retailers, and food service distributors will be also taking care of the distribution of its new products which are oats. Being a multinational organization, the brand sells its products in more than 150 countries all across the globe. Thus, its new product will be sold in various countries with the help of manufacturing and exports.

Competitive forces

The present food market possesses intense competition as there are a number of large and small organizations that are competing with each other. Oats of Unilever will be facing tough competition from brands like Kellogg and Quaker. Both the above-stated names are considered renowned brands in the breakfast market of the entire world. It is going to be very hard for Unilever to attract customers for its new products and capture market share from the above-mentioned brands. In order to gain a competitive advantage, Unilever is required to adopt strategies such as cost leadership or product differentiation. It can be stated that the oats will be provided at low prices during the initial stages. This will encourage people in the market to buy and consume oats at least once. Further, with the help of unique features and healthy nutrients, the brand will be able to gain customer loyalty and satisfaction. In order to make its product successful in the long run, the organization will need to take care of all major competitive forces and frame strategies according to the same.

Read this one also before start writing your assignment Sample on Marketing Activities from Assignment Desk UK

Communication with customers

In the modern era, it has become very important for businesses to communicate with their customers at regular intervals. This supports in development of good relations and also helps in increasing customer loyalty. Unilever will use various kinds of online and offline sources to interact with people and make them aware of its new products. Its sales teams will be responsible for carrying out various kinds of promotional events in schools, colleges, universities, corporate offices, and fitness centers. Further, people will be informed about the benefit which is associated with the consumption of new oats launched by Unilever. On the other hand, ads and promotional activities will also be carried on social networking sites. Regular and loyal customers of the brand will be provided with emails and mobile messages regarding new products. This will not only result in attracting a high number of customers but will also support Unilever in enhancing the degree of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Marketing plan strategy

Before launching its new oats, Unilever will be carrying out activities such as test marketing. In this process, sample products will be distributed to some people from the entire target market segments. These people will be asked to consume the product and give their reviews for the same. Those reviews will be regarding the taste of oats, their quality, prices, packaging, differentiation, etc. This will help Unilever identify whether its new product will be accepted in the market or not. On the basis of feedback and reviews, the brand is also going to make some changes to its product. A low-pricing strategy will be adopted by Unilever and it will be also taking care of its packaging. Other than this, the brand is going to position its new oats in the market by its nutritional values and health benefits. These all factors will support in getting the best possible and desired outcomes regarding product launch. Along with this, the brand is also going to attend strategy of relationship marketing. Sales forces will be encouraged to develop effective relationships with people in the market at the time of promoting a product. This will result in increasing sales as customers will love to spend money on oats launched by Unilever. On the other hand, the taste and ingredients of oats are going to be so unique that it will also encourage word-of-mouth marketing from all customers. The sales force of the organization is going to work with the media in order to create awareness of new products and state the benefits of oats to people in the marketplace.

Resources required

In order to implement and carry out the plan, various resources will be required by the organization. Human resources are needed to carry out events and marketing of the new oats launched by Unilever. These individuals need to be highly skilled and should have knowledge regarding the current market trends. On the other hand, the organization will also need technological resources to carry out promotions and advertisements via email and social media. At last, financial resources are also necessary to implement the plan in the best possible manner and get the desired results. The organization will require finance in activities such as test marketing, events, promotions, advertisements, etc. Unilever will make sure that it arranges all the required resources within a given time frame in order to get the best possible results.

Monitoring

Monitoring of all activities and processes is going to be an important stage in the entire marketing plan. A team will be developed to monitor the effectiveness and results of all the activities carried out to market the new range of oats. One of the main roles of monitoring will be to determine the gap between desired outcomes and actual ones. This will support in identification of loopholes in the existing marketing plan. Further, corrective measures will be taken to eliminate those identified constraints and get the desired outcomes.

Conclusion

From the above report, it can be concluded that the above-stated marketing plan will help Unilever attract customers for its new products which are oats. It can be asserted that the brand is going to face intense competition from market players such as Kellogg's and Quaker. Low low-price strategy will support Unilever in attracting an adequate number of customers during the initial stage. It can be concluded that Unilever's target and segmented market is highly potential. Therefore, it will provide adequate opportunity for the growth and development of its new product in the market.

References

• Anderson, J. W. and et.al., 2009. Health benefits of dietary fiber. Nutrition reviews.
• Cravens, D. W. and Piercy, N., 2006. Strategic marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Grunert, K. G. and Traill, B., 2012. Products and process innovation in the food industry. Springer Science & Business Media.
• Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
• Hutt, M. D. and Speh, T. W., 2005. & Edition: Business Marketing Management. South-Western Publishing Company.

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